


i think i found a place for us

by natromanoffs



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: F/M, Found Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29916507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natromanoffs/pseuds/natromanoffs
Summary: set post s3. slight au.Hardy's been finding himself spending more and more time at Miller's house, and he's slowly becoming part of the fabric of her family.
Relationships: Alec Hardy/Ellie Miller
Comments: 8
Kudos: 46





	i think i found a place for us

**Author's Note:**

> ok so i had this au idea in my head for a while, and this one scene just kept running through my mind. i thought i'd jot it down to get it out of my head so i could focus on my homework, and leave it with the rest of my snippets. but it somehow turned into a little piece of something, so i thought i'd go ahead and post it. not sure it works super well on its own but hey! it's something

  
  
  
  
  
He’s sitting beside her at her kitchen table, case files spread out in front of them. He never really expected to end up spending this much time over at her place. But Daisy had gone to college, and being alone in his house for too long made him restless. Besides, Miller always appreciated him helping out, whether that meant taking the kids to their different activities or cooking them dinner. She’d been astonished and annoyed at how good a cook he was, but now relied on him cooking for them at least a couple times a week.

Miller is silent, working through some closing paperwork for a little robbery they’d just solved, and he’s familiarizing himself with their next case. 

Miller’s daughter Alexa is playing with blocks in the corner of the room.  
  
  
  
He remembers it vividly, the rough sound of Miller’s voice when she told him “I’m pregnant” with her back turned. He remembers driving her to the clinic, because she’d decided to get an abortion, didn’t want any remnant of Joe left in her. But they’d sat in the clinic parking lot and there was pain all over her face and she’d decided she couldn’t do it. She said that as much as she hated this piece of Joe she now had to carry, she couldn’t take away this piece of her family, this sibling to her boys. He remembers her being irritable most of the time she was pregnant, overworking herself and never resting like she should have. He remembers going with her to the hospital since Beth was watching the boys. He sat beside her while everything happened, didn’t really say much and felt he was probably more of an intrusion than anything else. But when she was in it — the pushing, the screaming, all of that — she gripped his hand so hard that her nails drew blood. 

Miller, of course, was more than capable of raising baby Alexa alone. And she had, for the most part. But he’d found himself coming over to her place more then, spending time looking at the baby’s sweet face. So maybe it made more sense than not that after Daisy left he found himself more and more integrated into the Millers’ life.  
  
  
  
Alexa clangs her blocks together. Miller sighs. Facing firmly ahead, she says: “I’m still married.”

He doesn’t know what to say to that one.

“To get divorced, I’d really need him to sign the papers and. Not gonna risk getting him involved in the kids’ lives again. Not gonna risk him learning about Lex.”

He nods. “Makes sense.”

“So fucked, though,” she continues. “That I’ve got to stay married to a criminal. That no matter how much I remove every bit of him I can from our lives, I’ll never be quite rid of him.”  
  
  
  
Alexa giggles to herself on the floor. 

He finds himself rapidly changing topics, the words out of his mouth before he can really realize them: “did you name your daughter after me?”

Miller looks at him with furrowed brows. “Obviously.”

He nods. Finds himself at a loss for words for the millionth time. They both stay silent for a moment, pretend to go back to the files.

Then, Miller says: “what if I wanted to get married again? I couldn’t. I never can, all because of that bastard.”

He’s sure he’s supposed to be offering up comforting words at this point. He thinks he’s fairly incapable of correctly comforting her no matter what he does. “You’d get married again?”

He tries to meet her eyes, to see if that’ll help him better understand the point of everything she’s saying, but she’s very pointedly looking away, keeping her eyes focused on little Alexa.

“Doesn’t matter either way,” she says.

“I wouldn’t,” he says.

She snaps her eyes to him. “No?”

“No, not after everything with Tess. Seems to bring more trouble than good.”

“Hm.”

He doesn’t know why he’s so suddenly sharing these thoughts. “Doesn’t seem like it means much of anything, really. If all those promises get broken..” He shrugs. “Not really much of a point.”

“Suppose so,” she says, turning her attention back to the files.  
  
  
  
They sit in silence together for another hour or so, working on the files while Alexa plays in the background and the setting sun spills through the window.

“What time is Fred’s game done again?” he asks, the setting sun having reminded him that the day is drawing to a close.

“Six,” she says.

“Should I stop by the shop on the way back?” he asks. “Could pick up some pizza stuff, you and Tom and Lex could get started on the dough.”

“Mm.” She nods. “Sounds good.”

They’re silent again for another minute or so.  
  
  
  
Then she sets her files down suddenly. “Do you want to move in here?” she asks.

“Do I…?”

“You’re here practically all of the time anyway. Fred and Lexie are pretty attached to you.”

“Tom not so much,” he says, a light joke to give him a minute longer to process her question.

“Tom’s not too bothered with any adults at the moment.” She meets him where he’s at and the extra minute is gone before he knows it. 

He swallows. The proposition is wholly unexpected to him.

She must be able to sense his discomfort, because she quickly says. “Never mind. Dumb idea.”  
  
  
  
He doesn’t say anything then, just goes to pick Fred up from his soccer game. They stop at the shop on the way home and grab some pizza ingredients. He also picks up a pack of those macadamia chocolates that Miller likes so much.  
  
  
  
They spend a while working on the pizza, warm music playing in the background from the new vinyl player Tom got. When everything is in the oven, the kids go out to set the table and watch some TV until the food is ready.

He sets the pack of chocolates on the counter, and Miller looks up at him quizzically. 

He swallows all of his inhibitions, takes hold of her chin, and kisses her, quickly and quietly, moving back before her lips have a chance to respond.

She flushes, opens her mouth to say something, but the kids are in the next room over and they’ll be able to overhear anything either of them says. If he knows one thing about Miller it’s that she won’t introduce something like this to her kids before she understands it herself first.

She furrows her brow at him, and he thinks she’s about to do something, but then the timer goes off and it’s time for dinner.  
  
  
  
They sit around the table with the kids, asking about their different activities. It’s painful to have to have these discussions when there’s a much heavier one waiting between them, but he grits his teeth and gets through it. Besides, the kids are a pretty good distraction.  
  
  
  
It’s later, after the dishes are washed and they’ve all watched a movie and the kids are firmly in bed, when he’s grabbing his jacket and heading for the door (because as much time as he spends over at her place he never stays the night, lines have to be drawn somewhere), that she comes up to him with something he can’t make out written all over her face. With the dishes and the movie he’d all but forgotten the prospect of a conversation, and his stomach twists at the realization that it’s about to happen. 

She doesn’t say anything though, just stares at him with this strange look in her eyes.

“Night, Miller,” he says, fingers wrapping around the door handle. “See you tomorrow.”  
  
  
  
He’s got the door an inch open when she stops him, grabs his face roughly and pulls him into a breathless kiss. She pulls back before his lips can respond, a mirror of their earlier moment. 

He’s silent for a moment, processing the feeling of her lips against his, of her hands on either side of his face. He feels something settle within him.

“Still want me to move in?” he asks.

“You’re such a knob,” she says.  
  
She reaches around him to shut the door, and pulls him in for another kiss.  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> this was kinda weird for me to write, esp the end - in my head i always see miller n hardy as platonic soulmates / life partners and almost all the fic i write about them is ambiguous bc i have trouble writing them as romantic. but i've got this other millerhardy au started in my drafts which /is/ romantic, so this ending was sort of a way for me to test out those skills lol. i also haven't watched the show for a while so apologies if this is super out of character. anyway i love these two with all of my heart they'll always be one of my favorite rships ever in television<3


End file.
